Kevin Clark

More than 500 vacancies in the North East’s booming technology sector will be up for grabs at Sunderland Software Centre this week.

The centre is hosting Tech Talent, the region’s biggest recruitment event specifically for digital, technical and creative businesses, on Thursday.

Sixty businesses, training providers, colleges and universities will be taking part, including North East tech giants Sage, Accenture and Tombola and rapidly growing software companies such as Performance Horizon, Atom Bank and VR specialists Zerolight.

Businesses will be looking to fill roles across software development, technical support, design, sales, marketing, business development and admin ranging from apprenticeship opportunities to experienced senior management level.

Attendees will also have the opportunity to hear from colleges, universities and training providers about a range of fast-track, earn while you learn and undergraduate level courses to boost their CVs.

The event is being hosted by Sunderland Software City, the organisation enabling the growth of the tech sector in the North East of England, and is supported by Nissan, who will be recruiting for a number of IT and technical roles on the day.

Software City skills manager Amy Porter said: "Tech Talent is an excellent opportunity for people at all stages in their career to come along, meet employers and find out about the promising career prospects in the North East’s growing technology and digital sector.

"There will be a large number of employers attending the event looking to fill a wide variety of roles across all job levels, so there will be vacancies to suit all levels of experience."

Last year’s inaugural Tech Talent fair attracted more than 700 jobs seekers and organisers are aiming to double the number of attendees this year to fill the growing need for workers in the region’s digital businesses.

Tech City, the Government backed organisation tasked with accelerating the growth of the UK digital sector, released its Tech Nation 2017 report in March, which showed the North East tech cluster has continued to grow steadily, with Sunderland having the highest rate of tech start-ups in the UK and Newcastle boasting an average digital salary of more than £50,000 with more than 20,000 people now working in the sector.

"This event is a great opportunity for people not familiar with the tech sector or who are interested in technology to meet representatives from the region’s software and IT businesses and find out about the massive range of career opportunities available to them on their doorstep," said Amy.